The revelation of new technology and gadgets was in full force last week at CES in Las Vegas but this week attention shifted to Steve Jobs and the Macworld trade show. Jobs opted not to participate in CES in favor of revealing his latest and greatest ideas at today’s Macworld trade show.

Apple unveiled their super-slim new laptop/personal computer known as the MacBook Air which is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it’s opened. This new laptop has an 80 gigabyte hard drive, a 13.3″ screen and a full size laptop keyboard. Being that thin will definitely be attractive to those that transport their laptops on a daily basis and it is being offered at a very affordable price – $1799. This new laptop hits the stores in two weeks and I am sure they will be flying out of the stores.

Apple is also moving into the online movie rental business which will be huge. Six major movie studios have created an alliance with Apple to offer movies over high-speed internet connections within 30 days after they’re released on DVD. I am really excited about this since we have the Apple TV hook up and would love to be able to rent movies through it. OnDemand is such a disappointment so hopefully movie availability through iTunes will be so much better.

Apple will offer over 1,000 movies for online rental by the end of February. Pricing will be competitive – $2.99 for older movies and $3.99 for new releases. Users can watch instantly over a broadband Internet connection, or download and keep the movie for 30 days while having 24 hours to finish the movie once it’s started.

The price of the Apple TV was also reduced from $299 to $229. New software was also revealed at the show that will allow users to order movies through the device and play them directly on their TV sets, eliminating the need to route the content through a personal computer first. The software is free to existing Apple TV customers and will be included in new Apple TV devices.

New features were also revealed for the iPhone. I haven’t been overly impressd with iPhone but Apple has certainly done well with the sale of 4 million iPhones during their first 200 days on sale. Pretty impressive!

As usual, Apple looks to be on the cutting edge of things, pushing the envelope year after year. They are currently the number 3 seller but hopefully, in the coming years their innovative technologies and design will bump up their ranking. I’ll be keeping my eye on them!